The Morrigan

Etymology: There is some disagreement over the meaning of the Morrígan's name. It can be straightforwardly interpreted as "great queen" (Old Irish mór, great;[5] rígan, queen,[6] deriving from a hypothetical Proto-Celtic *Māra Rīganī-s) However it often lacks the diacritic over the o in the texts.

Alternatively, mor (without diacritic) may derive from an Indo-European root connoting terror or monstrousness, cognate with the Old English maere (which survives in the modern English word "night-mare", a black horse who brought bad dreams) and the Scandinavian mara. This can be reconstructed in Proto-Celtic as *Moro-rīganī-s.

Current scholarship however, maintains that Morrígan, translated as "Phantom Queen," is the older, more accurate form.

Associations: Sovereignty, Prophecy, War, and Death on the battlefield, Fertility, Wealth, The Land (Earth Goddess).

Transportation: the death-coach and the death train.

Influences:

The Morrigu is prophetess of battle

She is said to have knowledge of the fate of all humanity.

Her personality is associated with the darker, and sometimes frightening, aspects of female energy.

As a protectress she empowers an individual to confront challenges with great personal strength, even against seemingly overwhelming odds. Morrigan is associated with the hunting falcon, which is a rare and special role for her. Instead of a raven who guides the soul at birth or death, she becomes that falcon that guides the healer or mage in initiation.

She presides over initiations. Initiation is the simulation of death, and new life. In the initiatory process, it is the death of the soul rather than the death of the body, but they echo each other. One must experience disintegration before reintegration. As Black Goddess of initiation, some choose to enter her cauldron, to gain the wisdom that is there. It is a dangerous path, for there is a chance of destruction, and also a chance of losing the wisdom that is sought.

The Black Goddess has wisdom of the pathways of life and death, and from the dark cauldron of human need and desire, and from the process of incarnation itself, comes the bright drop of wisdom.

Figurines that pair sprouting seed and vulvas, fish in the ocean, and the female body as a passageway.

Female figures lock to form circles,

Faery rings, and circles de fees

Blackthorn

Menstrual blood (a symbol of both life and death, fertility and war)

Guises:

The Morrigan's major form is as a caillech, an old woman, wrapped in a cape of black raven feathers.

Another role of the Morrigan is associated with the hunting falcon, which is a rare and special role for her. Instead of a raven who guides the soul at birth or death, she becomes that falcon that guides the healer or mage in initiation.

Sometimes she takes the form of the death raven announcing death, or the banshee predicting it with shrieks.

She is the thunderhead that descends at death, and the soul which is torn from the body rises through it like lightning. Her body becomes the conduit of death, the stormy pathway of the soul.

The Morrigan frequently appears in the guise of a hooded crow or raven.

The Washer at the Ford,the messenger of death: Morrigan is seen washing bloody laundry prior to battle by those destined to die.

In the ancient Celtic epic, The Ulster Cycle, The Morrígan is seen in the role of a bean nighe. When the hero Cúchulainn rides out to war, he encounters the Morrígan as a hag washing his bloody armour in a ford. From this omen he realizes this battle will be his last. In the Ulster cycle she also takes the form of an eel, a wolf, and a cow.

A beautiful and erotic woman, when she wishes to entice a lover

An old Crone or a trio of Crones. She represents the loss of power and finitude of lifespan. She represents her own power, reincarnation, rebirth and a point of view ( wisdom in age) which can’t be banished.

A dark haired woman with raven's wings, sometimes also depicted with clawed feet, the dark death Goddess carries the soul in her black wings to rebirth

Warhorse Badb which is gray and black and has wings, so its like the hooded Royston or scarecrow, which most often devoured the dead in the British Isles. Its head is hooded like an executioner

A Crow or Raven; As the crow She does not bring death, but rather eats and transformes their bodies/souls. The Morrigan is not death itself, She is the keeper of death and the dead, and She can be frightening in this aspect.An old English poem entitled "Exodus" also refers to ravens (as previously mentioned, one of the Morrigan's other chosen manifestations) as choosers of the slain.

In some tales, the figure who first appears to be a "banshee" is later revealed to be the Irish battle Goddess, the Morrígan. The hag may also appear as a washer-woman, or bean-nighe (washing woman), and is seen washing the blood stained clothes or armour of those who are about to die. The banshee may also appear in a variety of other forms, such as that of a hooded crow, stoat, hare and weasel - animals associated in Ireland with witchcraft.

The black death-horse which gallops through the sky carrying its newly deceased rider.

Her cosmic form is a cloud with pathways leading from it. People are pulled down these pathways by the force of their desires and sins, and by their striving and seeking after goals.

As a shape shifter, she would often appear as a huge blue/black raven or red cow.

Associations:

From bestower of sovereignty to earth Goddess, from mistress of the animals to faery queen, the Morrigan stands out as the preeminent Celtic Goddess.

The Morrigu: Goddess of Death and Guardian of the Dead. She is one of the Tuatha Dé Danann ("Tribe of the Goddess Danu")

As the Battle Goddesses: Strife, Power, Energy, Enchantment and Warfare. She is the dark Moon. Morringa and her two war Goddess sisters could appear in the forms of crows. Morrigan (violence) Badb (madness) and Neiman (frenzy) were the three sisters of war.

As the Great Mother: She was a transporter between life and death, a Fertility and Birth Goddess and a Warrior and Death Goddess in that she moved the mortal souls through these cycles. She is the moon’s three phases, maiden, nymph and crone. The moons, new, waxing and waning

As Morgana Le Fey: She is seen as a Priestess, a Healer, the Protector of the land and the person who brings Arthur to power, The first female Goddess, stronger than battle, and more hidden. She can fly, she can change her shape from old to young, she is kindly and well trained in medicine.

Banschee, Bean Nighe or Washers at the Ford: We know that the banschee were shape shifters, if they are seen by any human, someone is to die soon. Bean Nighe dresses in green and has red webbed feet (bird feet?) one nostril and one tooth. Very prominent long breasts fall from her chest and if you can grab and suck one, you will be granted any wish. You can ask her three questions and she will answer but then you must answer three from her, and if you lie it is too bad for you.

She can be interpreted as providing political or military aid, or protection to the king — acting as a Goddess of sovereignty, not necessarily a war Goddess.

Her association with cattle suggests her role was also connected to the earth, fertility and sovereignty

The Morrigan is also closely associated with horse symbolism and may, on occasion, have been linked with the equine Goddess, Epona.

Her Worship:

Her followers do energetic ring dances, dangerous to an intruder who tries to break in.

She is the source of life giving, death and transformation. regeneration and renewing.

It has also been suggested that she was closely tied to Irish "männerbund groups" (described as "bands of youthful warrior-hunters, living on the borders of civilized society and indulging in lawless activities for a time before inheriting property and taking their places as members of settled, landed communities") and that these groups may have been in some way dedicated to her. If true, her worship may have resembled that of Perchta groups in Germanic areas.

Many followers of the Morrigan erect a permanent shrine in her honor, using such items as bowls of brine and blood, the feather of a crow or raven, or even a piece of red cloth to symbolize the Washer at the Ford.

Marie Gimbutas, the emeritus professor of European Archeology. who has written extensively on her artifacts, believes that knowledge of her can lead the world towards a sexually equalitarian, non violent, and earth centred future.

Consorts of Morrigan

Some writers claim that she does not have a consort,

Others that her consort was the horned god. (It seems at least that if there were other gods they did not subordinate her in the beginning).

The Celtic Druid’s Years by John King claims that Samhain was the sacred time of the Great Rite, between Dagda ( the great God) and Morrigan.

The Badb and Nemain are sometimes listed as consorts of Néit, an obscure war god who is possibly Nuada the Sky Father in His warrior aspect. (It is interesting to note that another battle Goddess, Macha, is also associated with Nuada).

Lugh may also have been a consort, of the Morringa who shared Bran’s totem animal, but who could also be a bear, so this is one of her aspects.

Origins:

The worship of The Goddess Morrigan, of whom archeological evidence now tells us, dates back beyond the Copper age, and was the dominant Goddess of Europe. According to the "Lebor Gabala Erenn" Morrigu is one of the three daughters of Ernmas, which could be an old fertility-Goddess.The origins of the Morrígan seem to reach directly back to the megalithic cult of the Mothers.

The Mother Goddesses (Matrones, Idises, Disir, etc.) usually appear as triple Goddesses and their worship was expressed through both battle ecstasy and regenerative power. These Great Mother Goddesses appear as a trio of female deities who use magickal powers, spells and supernatural ability. Influencing the outcomes of warfare and battle through magick, rather than through sheer physical strength, is seen as the feminine warriors forte. In addition to being battle Goddesses, these deity are significantly associated with fate as well as birth in many cases, along with appearing before a death or to escort the deceases.

The earliest sources for the Morrígan are glosses in Latin manuscripts, and glossaries (collections of glosses). In a 9th century manuscript containing the Latin Vulgate translation of the Book of Isaiah, the word Lamia is used to translate the Hebrew Lilith. A gloss explains this as "a monster in female form, that is, a morrígan". Cormac's Glossary (9th century), and a gloss in the later manuscript H.3.18, both explain the plural word gudemain ("spectres") with the plural form morrígna. The 8th century O'Mulconry's Glossary says that Macha is one of the three morrígna. It therefore appears that at this time the name Morrígan may have been seen as referring to a class of beings rather than an individual.

Stone stelae with sculpted breasts have been discovered at Castelucio de Sauri, some with only breasts and a necklace as a marker. They date back to the Copper Age c.3000BC. In Spain, France, Portugal and England statues, menhirs and stone slabs frequently also display her eyes, her beak and sometimes her vulva. Parts of her seem hidden, then appearing so as one looks at the pottery artifacts there is more and more of her to piece together. She is a bird Goddess, an earth Goddess, and her breasts not only nourish the living they also regenerate the dead. Her breasts were believed to form the hills in County Kerry called Da Chich Annan. ( the paps of Anu)

She is the Irish Morrigan, Goddess of Death and Guardian of the Dead. "The Great Queen"Morrigan was one of the greatest "dark" archetypal Mother Goddesses of the irish celtoi. She is a Goddess of war, death, prophecy and passionate love. Together with Badb and Macha she became a triad of three warlike Goddesses. She often has, in these early Celtic apparitions, a bird’s head ( often a crow , raven or vulture) and breasts, and on the vessels depicting her there is a symbol for the number three. Sometimes three lines are connected and depict a triple energy that flows from her body, as she is giver and sustainer of life. Very early she is under stood to be a triple Goddess, a shape shifter, a three part person. Her names are plentiful and sound like her original name.

In Newgarange Ireland is her grand megalithic tomb-shrine, in it three stone cells, three stone basins engravings of triple snake spirals, coils, arcs and brow ridges. Her signs appear on spindle whirls, altars, sacrificial vessels, vases, pebbles, and pendants. She is the chevron and V, the inverted triangle, the earth element. She is the triple source of power needed to regenerate cycles, to take one from life to death and from death to life.

An inscription found in France invoking Cathubodva, 'Battle Raven', shows that a similar concept was known among the Gaulish Celts.

There is a burnt mound site in County Tipperary known as Fulacht na Mór Ríoghna ("cooking pit of the Mórrígan"). The fulachta sites are found in wild areas, and usually associated with outsiders such as the Fianna and the above-mentioned männerbund groups, as well as with the hunting of deer. The cooking connection also suggests to some a connection with the three mythical hags who cook the meal of dogflesh that brings the hero Cúchulainn to his doom.

The Dá Chich na Morrigna ("two breasts of the Mórrígan"), a pair of hills in County Meath, suggest to some a role as a tutelary Goddess, comparable to Danu or Anu, who has her own hills in County Kerry.

Éire, a Goddess connected to the land in a fashion reminiscent of the Mothers, could appear as a beautiful woman or as a crow, as could the Morrígan. The Dísir appeared in similar guises. In addition to being battle Goddesses, they are significantly associated with fate as well as birth in many cases, along with appearing before a death or to escort the deceased. It is interesting to note that some sources present Éire and the Morrígan as half-sisters.

Similarities in other Cultures:

The Raven Battle Goddesses: There is certainly evidence that the concept of a raven Goddess of battle was not limited to the Irish Celts. An inscription found in France which reads Cathubodva, 'Battle Raven', shows that a similar concept was at work among the Gaulish Celts.

Valkyries in Norse cosmology. Both use magick to cast fetters on warriors and choose who will die and were also associated with carrion birds. The Scandinavian "Song of the Spear", quoted in "Njals Saga", gives a detailed description of Valkyries as women weaving on a grisly loom, with severed heads for weights, arrows for shuttles, and entrails for the warp. As they worked, they exulted at the loss of life that would take place. The "walkurjas" are figures of awe an even terror, who delight in the deaths of men. As battlefield scavengers, they are very close to the ravens, who are described as "waelceasega", picking over the deadAn early German spell found in Merseburg mentions the Indisi, who decided the fortunes of war and the fates of warriors.

An Old English poem, "Exodus", refers to ravens as choosers of the slain. In all these sources, ravens, choosing of the slain, casting fetters, and female beings are linked.

The Washer at the Ford: Compare this to the Washer at the Ford, another guise of the Morrigan. The Washer is usually to be found washing the clothes of men about to die in battle. In effect, she is choosing who will die. The washerwomen bring unconsciousness in which stories and memories fade from the person into trees and stones.The Crone or Hag -The Devouring Mother Goddess: She has been called the Irish Kali, eating and being eaten. There is some similarity, she is frightening, She and her sisters can join into a horrible ring through which a warrior might disappear., one full of teeth and hair . Three phantom spirits come out of the Kreshcorran, Devilish, three unsightly mouths, ( long lips down to the knees.) Six unclosing white eyes, six twisting legs under them, Three warlike swords, three shields, three spears.

It goes together with the tooth mother, the devouring Goddess who chases Tailesin and devours him, and then gives birth to him. Being killed and devoured means entering the life cycle again, transported by woman.

Morrigan's Ravens:

Ravens have a close affinity with the supernatural world as totem birds of the dark Celtic Goddesses the Badbh and the Morrigan, who possess the ability to appear as one or three beings and to shape-shift into Raven form. They are associated with death and rebirth, and Celtic coins depict the Raven or crow perched on the back of a horse, symbolizing the war-Goddess Badb Catha, who could change shape from woman to death-crow in battle. As death is closely intertwined with life, the bright-eyed Raven is also blessed with clear vision, and is wise in the mysteries of rebirth and healing.

Mythology and The Morrigan

For the red mouthed Badh will cry around the houseFor bodies it will be solicitousPale Badbs shall sheikBadbs will be over the breasts of men.

(from Bruiden Da Choca)

The Morrigan's origin was not with Manannan or even Lir, though she visits their worlds often. Nor is she one of the children of Danu. She seems to come from some dark chaos that preceded these gods, but is not a god in itself.

The Ulster Cycle: The Morrígan's earliest narrative appearances, in which she is depicted as an individual, are in stories of the Ulster Cycle, where she has an ambiguous relationship with the hero Cúchulainn. In Táin Bó Regamna (The Cattle Raid of Regamain), Cúchulainn encounters the Morrígan as she drives a heifer from his territory. He challenges and insults her, not realizing who she is. By this he earns her enmity. She makes a series of threats, and foretells a coming battle in which he will be killed. She tells him, enigmatically, "I guard your death".

In the Táin Bó Cuailnge queen Medb of Connacht launches an invasion of Ulster to steal the bull Donn Cuailnge; the Morrígan, glossed as equivalent to Alecto of the Greek Furies, appears to the bull in the form of a crow and warns him to flee. Cúchulainn defends Ulster by fighting a series of single combats at fords against Medb's champions. In between combats the Morrígan appears to him as a young woman and offers him her love, and her aid in the battle, but he spurns her. In response she intervenes in his next combat, first in the form of an eel who trips him, then as a wolf who stampedes cattle across the ford, and finally as a red heifer leading the stampede, just as she had threatened in their previous encounter. However Cúchulainn wounds her in each form and defeats his opponent despite her interference. Later she appears to him as an old woman bearing the same three wounds that her animal forms sustained, milking a cow. She gives Cúchulainn three drinks of milk. He blesses her with each drink, and her wounds are healed. As the armies gather for the final battle, she prophesies the bloodshed to come.

In one version of Cúchulainn's death-tale, as the hero rides to meet his enemies, he encounters the Morrígan as a hag washing his bloody armour in a ford, an omen of his death. Later in the story, mortally wounded, Cúchulainn ties himself to a standing stone with his own entrails so he can die upright, and it is only when a crow lands on his shoulder that his enemies believe he is dead.

She appeared to the hero Cu Chulainn (son of the god Lugh) and offered her love to him. When he failed to recognize her and rejected her, she told him that she would hinder him when he was in battle. When Cu Chulainn was eventually killed, she settled on his shoulder in the form of a crow. Cu's misfortune was that he never recognized the feminine power of sovereignty that she offered to him.

She appeared to him on at least four occasions and each time he failed to recognize her.

1. When she appeared to him and declared her love for him. 2. After he had wounded her, she appeared to him as an old hag and he offered his blessings to her, which caused her to be healed. 3. On his way to his final battle, he saw the Washer at the Ford, who declared that she was washing the clothes and arms of Cu Chulainn, who would soon be dead. 4. When he was forced by three hags (the Morrigan in her triple aspect) to break a taboo of eating dogflesh.

The function of the Goddess [the Morrigan] was not to attack the hero [Cu Chulainn] with weapons but rather to render him helpless at the crucial point of battle, like the valkyries who cast 'fetters' upon warriors ... thus both in Irish and Scandinavian literature we have a conception of female beings associated with battle, both fierce and erotic.

During the Second Battle, the Morrigan said she would go and destroy Indech son of De Domnann and 'deprive him of the blood of his heart and the kidneys of his valor', and she gave two handfuls of that blood to the hosts. When Indech later appeared in the battle, he was already doomed.

She helped defeat the Firbolg at the First Battle of Mag Tuireadh and the Fomorians at the Second Battle of Mag Tuireadh.

The Morrigan and the Firbolgs:

The Morrigan was one of the Tuatha De Danaan ("People of the Goddess Danu") and she aided in the defeat of the Firbolgs at the First Battle of Magh Tuireadh and the Fomorii at the Second Battle of Mag Tured.

The Mythological Cycle:

The Morrígan also appears in texts of the Mythological Cycle. In the 12th century pseudohistorical compilation Lebor Gabála Érenn she is listed among the Tuatha Dé Danann as one of the daughters of Ernmas, granddaughter of Nuada.

The first three daughters of Ernmas are given as Ériu, Banba, and Fódla. Their names are synonyms for Ireland, and they were married to Mac Cuill, Mac Cécht, and Mac Gréine, the last three Tuatha Dé Danann kings of Ireland. Associated with the land and kingship, they probably represent a triple Goddess of sovereignty. Next come Ernmas's other three daughters: the Badb, Macha, and the Morrígan. A quatrain describes the three as wealthy, "springs of craftiness" and "sources of bitter fighting". The Morrígan's name is said to be Anann, and she had three sons, Glon, Gaim, and Coscar. According to Geoffrey Keating's 17th century History of Ireland, Ériu, Banba, and Fódla worshipped the Badb, Macha, and the Morrígan respectively, suggesting that the two triads of Goddesses may be seen as equivalent.

The Morrígan also appears in Cath Maige Tuireadh (The Battle of Mag Tuired). On Samhain she keeps a tryst with the Dagda before the battle against the Fomorians. When he meets her she is washing herself, standing with one foot on either side of the river Unius. In some sources she is believed to have created the river. After they have sex, the Morrígan promises to summon the magickians of Ireland to cast spells on behalf of the Tuatha Dé, and to destroy Indech, the Fomorian king, taking from him "the blood of his heart and the kidneys of his valour". Later, we are told, she would bring two handfuls of his blood and deposit them in the same river (however, we are also told later in the text that Indech was killed by Ogma).

As battle is about to be joined, the Tuatha Dé leader, Lug, asks each what power they bring to the battle. The Morrígan's reply is difficult to interpret, but involves pursuing, destroying and subduing. When she comes to the battlefield she chants a poem, and immediately the battle breaks and the Fomorians are driven into the sea. After the battle she chants another poem celebrating the victory and prophesying the end of the world.

In another story she lures away the bull of a woman calledOdras, who follows her to the otherworld via the cave of Cruachan. When she falls asleep, the Morrígan turns her into a pool of water.

Finnegan’s Wake by James JoyceThe Arthurian Book of Days by Caitlin and John MatthewsThe Celtic Druid’s Year by John KingThe Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom by Caitlin and John MatthewsThe Language of the Goddess by Marija GimbutasThe Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer BradleyThe Once and Future Goddess by Elinor W. GadonThe White Goddess by Robert GravesMythic Ireland by Michael Dames